As in virtually all other states, many custodial parents in Missouri struggle to get their children's non-custodial parents to keep up their legal obligations when it comes to child support. While many of the around 313,000 Missouri parents with a court order to pay child support do so faithfully, several parents have fallen behind. According to KOZL-TV, parents collectively owe more than $2 million in back child support to their children. The problem has grown worse due to the poor economy in recent years.

Still, officials in Missouri have done a fairly good job enforcing child support orders when parents turn to them for help. The amount of money the state Department of Social Services collected in 2010 was double the national average. And as we discussed in our May 17 blog post, the department has a new website that allows employers to fill out paperwork about their employees online to make screening for unpaid child support faster and easier. The agency expects to collect an extra $7.8 million in child support by the end of fiscal year 2012 due to the modernized system.

One woman's story of growing up without child support illustrates why state law provides for noncustodial parents to help with the financial obligations of raising a child. The woman says her father consistently refused to have anything to do with her growing up, forcing her mother to go to her parents and church for help.

When the woman turned 12, the state got involved and the court ordered her father to pay $225 a month in support, improving the family's ability to make ends meet.

Source: KOZL-TV, "Unpaid Child Support a Burden for Government, Families," Kate Stacy, Feb. 20, 2012